Bastardy Records of Tyrrell County, North Carolina
1791 - 1879



George W. Merritt

The bastardy records of Tyrrell County, NC have not previously been published. As I, Charles Barnes, researched my gg-grandfather, George W. Merritt, it became evident that he was a bastard child of Keziah Merritt. I was thus led to the bastardy bonds of Tyrrell County to see if I could identify his father. A search of the appropriate time frame resulted in five documents and the identification of Joseph Gibson as George's father. Surveying these records, I was surprised by their significance from a genealogical perspective. Although the child's name is never mentioned, direct and implied relationships of the mother and father are available in most records. Hoping that these records do not ruffle anyone's feathers, I have extracted them.

The extract of each record contains all information of genealogical significance therein. The period 1791 - 1835 was extracted from Microfilm Number 2047664, Item #4, available through your local Family History Center. The period 1835 - 1879 was extracted from Microfilm Number 2047665, Item #1. The extracted records are in the same sequence as the actual records, except for those that were filed in the wrong ten-year period folder. Please be aware that they are NOT in date sequence within those folders, so they are not in date sequence herein. An index is provided for all names that appear in every record. This index includes the date and type of record and the involvement of the individual in the record. Use the index to locate names you are interested in, then click on that name to go to that person in the extracted record cited. Then just click on your browser's BACK feature to return to the index after you are done.

There are many different type records found among the bastardy bonds and records. The reason for bastardy bonds was to place the ultimate burden of support for a bastard child upon the father should the mother be unable to provide proper support. Otherwise, the child could become a ward of the county poor house and be an expense to the county. Typically the process started with public knowledge or a complaint that a single woman or widow was with child or has had a child. A warrant would be issued to bring the woman before the local justices of the peace where she would be examined to determine the father of the child. If she named the father, another warrant was then issued to bring him before the local justices of the peace and he then posted bond to appear in court to answer the charges on a particular date. If found guilty, he would then have to post bond to guarantee support of the bastard child. This is what is known as a bastardy bond. Support of the bastard child was typically 16 dollars in the first year and 12 dollars in subsequent years. If payment was not made, the father and his bondsmen were brought before the court again to show cause why the bond should not be executed and a levy made on his goods and chattels. In cases where the pregnant woman refused to name the father of the child, she and her family typically had to post bond for support of the bastard child. In later years women often did not declare who the father was, but the father would enter into bond with the mother to guarantee support of the child.

I have titled these type records herein as follows:

1. Warrant for Pregnant Woman to Appear
2. Examination of Pregnant Woman
3. Warrant for Reputed Father to Appear
4. Appearance Bond of Reputed Father
5. Bastardy Bond
(Click on the above to see a sample of a complete, original of that type document)

Only one or two of these records still exist for the 1790s and early 1800s in any particular case of bastardy. Most of these records exist in each case for later periods until the early 1870s, after which mostly just bastardy bonds exist. In addition to the above records there are summons to testify, receipts, warrants to collect judgements and various other related court documents. The justices cited in these documents were usually the local justices of the peace. Normally there were two justices involved in each document, but in later years there was only one. Justices were also often the witnesses to the bonds, as well as the Clerk of the Court. The persons who executed the warrants were the sheriff, deputy sheriff, local constables and sometimes persons spacially deputized to execute a specific warrant.

These bastardy records can be used in conjunction with apprentice bonds to identify the children involved. The bastardy records give you an approximate date of birth and the surnames of the mother and father. The child's surname, at least initially, was usually that of the mother. North Carolina law provided that all base born children be apprenticed by age seven. So looking at apprentice records for a child with the mother's surname being apprenticed within seven years after birth may reveal the child's name. My base born ancestor, George W. Merritt, was born to Keziah Merritt about 1831 according to bastardy records and Joseph Gibson was idntified as the father. Seven years later George was apprenticed to Henry Gibson, Joseph's father, and remained in his household until at least age 18. After around 1850, census records can of course be used to identify base born children. This is sometimes complicated by the children changing the surname by which they are known.

Bastardy documents are not the only source of information on this subject. The minutes of the county Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions and the Superior Court have an entry for all bastardy cases brought before the court. No ducuments may now exist for any one case of bastardy, paricularly in the early years. So if you don't find what you are looking for here you should try the court minutes of the time frame you suspect a birth may have occurred. And in the case of Free Blacks and Slaves, you should check the Tyrrell County records on them. In cases of a single copy of bastardy documents surviving they may have been filed there instead of in the bastardy files.


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